The Chinese language is represented by Chinese characters. Several types of notation are used to indicate the pronunciation of a Chinese character. Typical examples include the Pin Yin notation issued in 1958 by the government of People's Republic of China and “bopomofo” notation used before 1958 and still currently used in Taiwan.
Along with the rapid popularization of Chinese culture, especially in countries where Chinese characters are not used, numerous Chinese character search methods have been developed. To date, the existing search methods still have the following problems:
Generally, Pin Yin, bopomofo or radical indexing is adapted to find Chinese characters in the existing search methods. In other words, these search methods require that a user input exact Pin Yin notation, bopomofo notation or the radical of the character. No search method exists for a situation where a user does not already know the pronunciation or radical of a Chinese character.
Furthermore, a Chinese character may be written irregularly. A novice has great difficulty to pronounce exactly a character with irregular notation. Even if a user can read a Chinese character with regular notation, nothing is found if the irregular notation is input for a search because the existing search methods only function if an exact notation is used to find the meaning of a character.
Therefore, in the relationship between the existing search methods and the search results, only one correspondence relationship, notation or radical, is implemented; more powerful and more intelligent search methods have not been adapted to make searching more practical for a novice. In other words, the existing search methods and the search results require a high correlation. Therefore, for a Chinese character novice, higher practicality cannot be achieved and various users' requirements cannot be widely satisfied.